Electric jacquard



Sept. 3, 1929.

w. RECKE 1,726,586

ELECTRIC JACQUARD Original Filed Oct. 22, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet l can 0 9060 0o goo 00" Q 0000 Moon F INVENTOR.

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w. RECKE ELECTRIC JACQUARD Original Filed Oct. 22, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR g3: i M

0 TOGOOGOOOGGOOQOOOGGQOOO oeoo'ao OQOOGOOOQGOOOOOOOOOOGQG Patented Sept. 3, 1929.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BECKE, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

ELECTRIC JACQUARD.

Application filed October 22, 1923, Serial No. 670,126. Renewed January 28, 1929.

This invention relates to electric jacquard, and particularly to mechanism adapted to be employed in connection with electric movie signs, or signs on which the exposures or pictures are rapidlyinterchanged so as to produce the illusion of a single, gradually changing picture, as I have described in Letters Patent No. 1,359,274, granted to me November 16th, 1920.

An object of the invention is to reduce the number of reciprocating or moving parts of the mechanism and to shorten the move ments of such parts, in order to interchange the exposures more rapidly.

Another object is to provide means for preventing particles of insulating matter from settling between the contact-points brought together by means of the jacquardholes in the film or tape.

It is an object to insure the register between the contact-points and the jacquard-holes by providing means for adjusting said register at one edge of the film independently of the register at the opposite edge.

A further object is to provide means for assembling the contact points.

I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 1s a perspective view of the entire mechanism;

Figure 2, a section showing in position the film and the various plates including those having the pins that form the contact-points;

Figure 3, a bottom-view showing the upper contact-plate and the guard-plate which prev nts contact between the film and the contact-points of the contacts or pins of said up-- per plate; I 1

Figures 4, 5, 5" and 6 are views showing means for assembling the pins, Fig. 6 being a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modification;

Figures 7 and 8, views similar to Fig.- 3 but 5 each showing a modification: and

Fig. 9 is a view. similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modification.

To projections 1 of a vertical supporting wall 2 (Fig. 1) is secured a beam 3 provided with a block 4 and slabs 5. A contact-plate 6 is provided with uprights 7 to which is secured a pivot-rod 8 which is journalled in the block 4 and supported by the slabs 5. Directly below the plate 6, secured to it by means of screws 6', is a guard-plate 9 beneath which are located spacers 10 and a guide-plate 11 which forms a backing for a film 12 located between the spacers 10, and facing said plate 9, and said film is passed around a drum 13 having spurs 14 which are adapted to engage openings 15 in the film. Pivotally secured to the beam 3 are rockers 16 pivotally supportmg links 17 also pivotally connected with rods 18 which are slideably mounted in the plates 6, 9 and 11, and in the spacers 10. The rods 18 are secured to a stop-plate 19, and springs 20, coiled around said rods, tend to separate the plates 19 and 11 until pegs 20, inserted in the rods 18, engage the plate 6', and it is evident that by means of this construction the rods 18 help to hold the various plates in them respective positions, while if the pegs 20 are removed and the links 17 disconnected from the rods 18, the plate 19 having the rods 18 may be lowered and the various plates separated for inspection or repairs.

The plate 6 is of insulating material and is provided with. a bank or block of holes 21 into which contacts 22 are forced the contactpoints or ends 23 of which form a contactingsurface and extend into the plate 9 (Fig. 2) which is provided with holes 24 (Fig. 3) so large as to provide insulating air-space between the plate 9 and the contact-points 23. The plates 11 and 19 form a frame or support for pins 26 slideably mounted in holes 25 of said plates and provided with coiled springs 27 and rings 28 are forced over said pins to hold said springs under tension and to normally hold said pins by their heads 29 to the plate 19 which acts as a stop for said pins, so that if this plate is moved upward the pins will move with it and will slide in the plate 11 until the contact-points 30 of said pins reach thefilm 12 as is indicated at 31 in Fig. 2, after which the plate 19 will slide over the pins (or the pins will slide in the plate) except when the film is provided with a jacquard-marking or perforation 32, in which instance the respective pin 26 will move upward until its contact-point 30 has made contact with the contact-point 23 of the respective contact 22 as is indicated at 33 in Fig. 2, at which time the plate 19 will be in the position indicated at 34 in this figure.

Pivotally mounted in projections 35 of the plate 6 are bent levers 36 (Fig. 1) depressed by springs 37 one end of which abuts a projection 38 of the respective upright 7, the other end abutting a block 39 attached to the respective lever 36. Screws 40, loosely mounted in the projections 38 and screwedinto the blocks 39, act as supports for the springs 37. The bent ends 41 of the levers 36 are pivotally secured to connecting-rods 42 of a crank-shaft 43 to which the drum 13 is secured and which is journalled in projections 44 of the wall 2. The cranks 45 of the shaft 43 carry also connecting-rods 46 pivotally secured to the rockers 16, and when the shaft 43 is rotated in the direction of the arrow, the rods 42 and 46 will be set in motion,-

the plate 19 will be raised, the drum 13 will revolve and will send the film 12 toward the wall2, and the contact-surfaces formed by the contact points 23 and 30 will move in the direction of said film, and during the time the plate 19 is in its uppermost position shown at 34 in Fig. 2, any pre-det'ermined contactpoints 30 may be caused to contact with their respective contact points 23. Thereupon the plate 19 will again be lowered and the contactsurfaces moved backward, so that by the time the plate 19 is up again, a new block or set of jacquard-markings 32 will be presented to said surfaces. It is to be noted that while the plate 19 during this operation reciprocates in cross directions, the plate 11 reciprocates in one direction only, and by this means, more rapid changes of exposures or jacquard-arrangementsa feature so essential in order to attain the object in vieware possible. The plate 11 acts also to guide and thereby protect the film 12, because when the plate 19 is lowered and the pins 26 are disengaged from the selected contacts 22, the contact points 30 cannot become caught in the perforations 32, be cause said plate 11 will hold the film to the contacts 22 of the plates 6 and 9 at all times, and for this reason the plate 19 need be lowered only enough to draw said points below the face of the plate 11, and this slight lowering also tends to permit more rapid reciprocations ofthe parts involved than were possible if this plate had to be lowered more. The construction is such that while the plate 19 reciprocates vertically, the plate 11 does not, and when said plate 19 begins to rise, the pins 26 will rise with it but will move or slide in the plate 11 until they strike either the film or the contacts 22, whereafter said pins will cease rising but will move inthe plate 19 which will continue to rise until the cranks 45 are distorted to their limit, all as will be understood. While I have shown crank-motion for operating the plates 6 and 19, I do not wish to limit myself to such simple construction, various more elaborate forms of motion adapted to produce the result described being well known and old in the art, as for instance the cam-motion described in Letters Patent No. 1,203,049, granted to me on Oct. 31, 1916.

It is essential that the contact surfaces be kept clean. In jacquards not having a guard plate, where a paper film is employed, particles of worn paper will be picked up by the lower contact-points, While in case of a metal film the upper contact points are necessarily sunk beyond the face of the insulated plate to avoid contact with such film, and since there necessarily occurs constant friction between the film and this plate-especially where an attempt is made to limit the space between the contact-surfaces as just describedworn particles of such insulating plate will in the last named case fall on the lower contact-surface. As hereinbefore described, in the construction of my present improvement, the contactpoints 23 of the insulating plate 6 reach into the plate 9, and because of the air-space between said points and the body' of plate 9, I am at liberty to construct this plate of conducting material and have it insulated from the contact-points at the same time. I employ conductive material for the film 12 also, because.the contact-points 23 terminate beyond the face of the plate 9 and cannot come in contact with said film, and by means of this construction all wear resulting from the movement of the film and from the reciprocationsof the pins 26 will result in particles of conductive material and will be harmless. Should the contact-points 23 become coated as by rusting, for instance, the plate 9 may be removed from the plate 6 by removing the pegs 20 and by disconnecting the links 17, as aforesaid, after which it is only necessary to remove the screws 6 to remove the plate 9, and now the upper contact-surface may be cleaned at will by rubbing. it with emery cloth, etc.

The contacts 22 and the pins 26 are necessarily small and crowded together, each forming a block necessitating small jacquardperforations 32, by means of which the film 12 is adapted to select said contacts, and to insure contact between the contact-points involved perfect'register is essential so as to prevent the contact-points 30 involved from striking the edge of such perforations, instead of striking the respective contact-points 23. In Letters Patent No. 1,359,274 hereinbefore mentioned, I have described means for adjusting the register during operation, but to produce best results I findit necessary to adjust the register near one edge of the mechanism irrespective of that near the opposite edge. I accomplish this by means of the screws 40, and .if the knob 47 of one of said screws is so turned as to raise the respective block 39, the

respective edge of the contact-plate 6 will be all of the pins 26 have so been assembled, some means will be necessary for adding the plate 11 to the assembly. Two gauge-plates 48, having large holes 49 are placed directly .above the plate 19 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2,

during the insertion of the pins in the plate 19, just described, whcreafter the plates 48 are lifted above the rings 28 and displaced in opposite directions as is shown in Figures 4 and 5, by means of which displacement the contact-points 30 will be held equidistant one from another, and will be so aligned that they will register with the holes 25 of the plate 11, and it will now be a simple matter to pass the plate 11 in position. By means of this construction it is possible to employ thin. long pins 26, crowded together and loosely fitting in the plate 19 which may be thin and light, all these qualities being desirable in order to permit production of the rapidly interchanged pictures aforesaid. The same result may be obtained by employing a single plate 48, if the parts involved be tilted while the plate 11 is passed over the contact-points. at an angle of, say, ninety degrees so that the weight of the pins 26 will cause said pins to lean to one side of the holes 49 of the plate 48. as will be understood. It will also be understood that if the plate 48 is formed of a number of strips 48 shown in Fig. 5. it may be removed after assembly aforesaid. The construction'may be varied still further and the springs 27 and the rings 28 assembled on the pins 26 previous to their insertion in the plate 19, if larger holes 50 be provided in said plate, as is shown in Fig. 6. Bushings 51 fitting snugly in said holes, but loosely over said pins, form the assembling device in this instance, and are placed next to the heads 29 during this assembling. In this instance. no plates 48 are required. and the assembled pins may be passed through both plates 11 and 19, and the bushings 51 forced into the holes 50.

Instead of having a hole 24 for each coutact-point 23, the plate 9 may be provided with holes 52 large enough to embrace four such points as is shown in Fig. 7. Where extremely long and narrow jacquard is desirable, the guard-plate may assume the form of a frame 53 shown in Fig. 8.

Although I have shown a simple form of apparatus. the improvement described herein may be applied, without departing from the spirit of invention, to various old forms, several of which having been described in the aforesaid Patent No. 1,359,274. Instead of perforating the film, tongues formed by cuts in the tape and described in said last named patent may be caused to bodily engage the contact-points 23, the block of contact-points- 30 in this instance acting only as a pad or backing forthe film and its tongues 54, as is indicated in Fig. 9.

I claim:

1. In an electric jacquard, a conductive guard-plate, contact-points beyond the face and insulated from said plate, a conductive film facing said plate.

2. In an electric jacquard, a contact-surface formed by contact-points, a conductive film facingsaid surface, a conductive guardplate for said surface.

3. In an electric jacquard, a contact plate having contact-points, a conductive film facing said points, a guard plate between said film and said plate, contact-points facing said film on the opposite side.

4. In a jacquard, a contact-plate having contacts arranged to form a block, a guard plate attached to saidcontact-plate, and means for removing said guard-plate from said contact-plate.

5. In an electric jacquard, a contact surface formed by contacts arranged to form a block, a conductive film for selecting said contacts and a. conductive guard-plate for preventing contact between said film and said contacts.

*6. Inan electric jacquard, a film having markings, a contact-surface formed by contact-points adapted to register with said markings, and means for adjusting the register between said markings and said points, at one edge of said 'film independently of the register at the other edge.

7 In an electric jacquard, a film having a series of blocks of markings, contactoints adapted to register with said marl'iings, means for presenting said series to said eontact-points in succession and means for adjusting near one edge of said film during said succession the register between said markings and said contact-points irrespective of the register near the other edge.

8. In an apparatus of the class described, a frame consisting of a guide-plate and a stopplate, a plurality of contact-pins in said frame and means for moving said stop-plate without so moving said guide-plate.

9. In an apparatus of the class described, a. plurality of contact-pins, a guide-plate, a. stop-plate, said guide-plate supporting one end of said pins, said stop-plate supporting the other end of said pins, a film adjacent to said guide-plate, and means for moving said pins toward said film without so moving said guide-plate.

10. In an apparatus of the class described, a plurality of contact-pins, means including a guide-plate for supporting said pins, a contact-plate at a distance from but immovable with respect to said guide-plate and means f(l)r moving said pins toward said contactp ate.

11. In an apparatus of the class described, a frame consisting of a guide-plate and a stopplate, a plurality of contact-pins in said frame, means for moving said pins in said guide-plate without so moving them in said stop-plate and means for moving them in said stop-plate without so moving them in said guide-plate.

12. In an apparatus of the class described, a frame including a guide-plate and a stopplate, a plurality of contact-pins in said frame and means for moving said pins in said guide-plate without so moving them in said stop-plate.

13. In an apparatus of the class described, a jacquard frame having plates, said plates having holes, spring-operated pins and assembling devices for assembling said pins in said frame so that the points of said pins will form a block, said devices being adapted to align said pins so that said pins will register with said holes of one of said plates.

14. In an apparatus of the class described, a contact-plate having contacts arranged to form a block, contact pins below said plate, a tape between said contacts and said pins, means for raising and lowering said pins and a guide-plate below said tape and immovable with respect to said contact-plate, said guideplate being adapted to hold said tape to said contact-plate when said pins are lowered.

15. In an apparatus of the class described, a reciprocating contact-plate having contacts arranged to form a block, a tape opposing said contacts, contact-pins opposing said tape and adapted to meet with and part from said contacts, and guiding-means to hold said tape to said plate when said contacts and said pins part.

16. In an apparatus of the class described, a traveling tape, a contact-plate adapted to travel with said tape, pins adapted to engage said plate through said tape, and guidingmeans to hold said tape to said plate before and after said pins enga e said plate.

17. In an apparatus 0% the class described, a conductive tape having perforations, contacts arranged to form a block, spring-operated pins adapted to register with said contacts, means for causing a part of said pins to touch the corresponding contacts through said perforations and means for preventing contact between said tape and said contacts during said touch.

18. A device for assembling contact-pins in jacquard-frames having the form of a block, said device consistin of a gauge-plate adapted to be placed near t e stop-plate during insertion of the pins in said last named plate and to be moved toward the contactpoints of said pins to cause said pins to register with the holes of the guide-plate.

19. A device for assembling contact-pins in the form of a block in jacquard-frames, said device being adapted to align the ins so that they will register with the holes 0 the guide-plate.

WILLIAM RECKE. 

